CHRIS MONTAGUE & TROYK-ESTRA – Talking Big Bands

Since their arrival on the UK jazz scene and the release of their eponymous debut album in 2009, Troyka have been turning heads with some of the most imaginative trio music that has been heard for many a year. Having developed a group sound and identity that is uniquely their own band members Chris Montague (guitar and loops), Kit Downes (organ) and Josh Blackmore (drums) have set their sights on bigger things with Troyk-estra.With the release of Troyk-estra’s debut album, recorded live at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival earlier this year, I had the chance to catch up with guitarist, Chris Montague and talk to him about this most ambitious project. I begin by asking Chris how the idea to expand Troyka into the Troyk-estra came about. “We were very fortunate to be asked by Django Bates back in 2011 to perform some new music for the Cheltenham Jazz festival” he explains. “ Django wanted to use Troyka as the rhythm section and put horn players around us, using James Allsop, Denys Baptiste, Jay Phelps, and Shabaka Hutchings. We thought this was a great sound and began to have fantasies that we could do this with our own big band. I also think we were drawn to the idea of a big band because it is such a part of the jazz canon and tradition, and we wanted to do a completely new take on this old idiom, similar I suppose to what we have tried to do with the organ trio format. We mentioned this to Nick Smart (head of jazz at the Royal Academy of Music where we all studied) and I think he kept it in the back of his mind. A while later Jon Newey approached us and the academy and we were given a commission to write a set of music for the Jazzwise 15 year anniversary festival at Ronnie’s. It was an opportunity we couldn't ignore even though we knew it would be a huge amount of work.”

In selecting material for Troyk-estra to perform you have cleverly reworked some of Troyka’s material from the trio’s previous albums, so did you enlist some help in making the selctions and arranging the music for a larger ensemble? “No we didn’t actually. Me, Kit and Josh arranged every note that you hear. It was a huge amount of work to do as we knew the big band had to have the agility of the trio yet retain the density of the written material and not compromise the rhythmic precision. In the end I arranged four pieces, whilst Kit and Josh did twoa piece. It was the first time I had written for such a large ensemble and I've learned a huge amount.”In writing for the ensemble, I ask the guitarist, if he had a specific idea of how you envisaged Troy-estra to sound, and did you have a clear idea of the instrumentation that you wanted to use? After some consideration Chris answers “Everything we wrote for the big band had to leave space for the trio to do its thing. We set about arranging the music so that all the existing trio parts were thickened out and new sections were written which gave the brass and horns space to play detailed textures and the individual’s space to solo. We worked very hard with the players in rehearsals to make the whole band feel like one big rhythm section, a big grinding machine that plays with real intensity and accuracy.” Warming to his theme, Montague continues “We knew we had to use a big band, that was part of the brief, but I was very keen to add vibes, which doubles most of the guitar parts and sounds very cool, because Ralph Wyld is a great player. I also wanted to include bass clarinet.” So with the sonic palette catered for, how did you go about choosing the musicians for the band? “At first for the Ronnie’s gig we used the Royal Academy of Music big band, they were all incredible and virtually had the parts together on the first sight read through. But it's now its own band, we wanted to include some new collaborators that we've worked with before such as James Allsop (tenor), Mike Chillingworth (alto), Alex Bonney (trumpet), these are players whose abilities as improvisers are central to the overall sound, I really feel they in particular elevated the music to new heights. The players are all phenomenal and we're really proud to share the stage with them, they all very unique.”In listening to the album I am constantly reminded of the eighties big band, Loose Tubes. Not so much in the sound of the ensemble but more in spirit. That sense of adventure and total disregard for musical genres and how a conventional band should sound, coupled with the utmost respect for the tradition that they are coming from. “You would be right!” enthuses Chris. “I think that band in particular had something completely mind blowing and distinctive. The recordings they made still sound as fresh today and I’m very excited to hear how it will sound when re-united at Cheltenham next year. Django (Bates) in particular has been a big inspiration to us and his Beloved Bird trio is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed live. I’m also a huge fan of Marc Ducret and his Grande Ensemble. I listened to this music a lot and tried to incorporate some of that dark, complex texture into my writing. I love how that band sounds like a demented machine, teetering on the brink of being out of control.”

Returning to the Troyk-estra album that was recorded live at this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival the guitarist is obviously pleased with the finished product “We are very proud of the final result. We knew we only had one chance to get this music on tape so we were very tense as it was only the second gig as a big band and was being broadcast on the BBC and we threw everything we had at it. Tony Dudley Evans, who organises the event, rang me out of the blue and told me he wanted to programme the band as part of the festival. We didn't have much time to organise nineteen people for rehearsals and all the logistical things that come with that so it was a big undertaking for us. The BBC wanted to record the gig for broadcast so I knew we had to take these tapes and make a document of the music. I’m glad it's a live album for 3 reasons. The thought of getting nineteen people together in a studio terrifies me, we haven't released anything of the trio playing together live and the energy of the gig would be impossible to recreate in a studio.”With the album now finished and out on general release what next for Troyk-estra I enquire of Chris? Such a large ensemble must cause many logistical headaches. Is it feasible to keep a keep big band working and performing? “At the moment I’m just very pleased we managed to document the music with the album release. A lot of people do manage to keep big bands working regularly, even with the current climate, but I’m very happy to treat this like a separate entity to the trio. I think we are happy to keep writing for the big band and doing occasional gigs. I think it should feel like a one off when this band performs and should be something very special so we only want to do it a handful of times in a year.” Continuing Chris adds “New music for the band is going to be an on- going process. For example, we were commissioned by the EFG London Jazz Festival to write a new piece for the Purcell Room album launch gig last month. If we play again in the future I would definitely write new material. At the moment we have no plans to put this project into a studio, it's just too big and I don't think we need to as we have achieved what we wanted with the live album for now.”And finally, what about plans for the future for both Troyka and yourself? “We have recorded another trio album recently which we are looking to release next year. We have spent a lot of time recording this and it has a totally different sound than what we've previously done. There are lots of percussion overdubs, synth and tons of layered guitar sounds. We had the luxury of lots of time in the studio to mic things just how we wanted and get the sound right. Also we didn't feel the pressure to document how we play live as we've done in studios in the past (complete takes etc). Outside of Troyka, I’m currently writing material for a few different projects that I am involved in as a guitarist. I’m playing at Celtic connections with Gwillym Simcock, Trish Clowes and the Scottish Symphony Orchestra in January and Rory Simmons has a trio with me and Jon Scott (drums) called 'Monocled Man'. We recorded last year and it sounds great, I think people will be excited by this recording! Kit and I have also started playing in a trio with German drummer Benny Greb. We have recently played dates in Germany and Austria and he's looking to make an album soon of new music.”